COMING MARCH 16

Celebrate Recovery

If you want freedom from life’s hurts, hang-ups and habits we encourage you to check out Celebrate Recovery at the Real Life Church. This ministry seeks to celebrate God’s healing and redemptive power in our lives through the Eight Recovery Principles Celebrate Recovery is based on.

We invite you to use our ministry to experience change, allow God’s grace to help you solve life’s problems, and allow him to release you from your addictive, compulsive, and dysfunctional behaviors that have been holding you back from authentic joy in your life.

Celebrate Recovery meets every Friday at 6 p.m. on the Valencia Campus:

6–7 p.m.

Dinner

7–8 p.m.

Large Group Meeting

8–9 p.m.

Open Share Groups

9–10 p.m.

Cross Talk Cafe

Childcare

Childcare is provided for children under 5 years old.

Celebration Place (for children ages 5-12)

Celebration Place is a 52-week program that mirrors the Celebrate Recovery one-year, large group teaching schedule and curriculum plan. This means that while adults explore topics that bring healing and wholeness, their kids are discovering the same truths in age-appropriate ways!

The Landing (for teenagers ages 13-17)

The Landing, for students, is an ongoing 52-week program based on the beatitudes where Jesus laid out principles for happiness in the Sermon on the Mount. The Landing is for teenagers who are struggling to live their lives in a healthy, God-honoring way. It is a safe, healing place where teenagers can live a freer, healthier, and more God-centered life.

The Landing can help foster hope, truth and joy as teenagers embark on an exciting year-long journey of engaging videos, meaningful experiences, vibrant worship, and great conversation as they develop true friendships with other teens. The Landing breaks the cycles of dysfunction, giving our students the tools to face life’s hurts, hang-ups and habits in a new and healthy effective way.

Give

You can now give online to Celebrate Recovery. Be sure to select Celebrate Recovery from the “Give To” section.

Volunteer

Stay connected with Celebrate Recovery.

Purpose

Celebrate Recovery is a spiritual growth discipleship program designed to help people live a free life devoted to Jesus Christ. It is designed to help broken and hurting people overcome life’s adversities and discover freedom and healing from hurts, habits and hang-ups CR is for anyone who wants to discover true freedom and experience genuine joy and purpose in life. It truly is a program that anyone and everyone should attend.

Who is Celebrate Recovery For?

Ask yourself the following questions:

Do you have trouble setting limits for yourself?

Do you sacrifice your identity, desires or needs to make others feel good about themselves?

Do you struggle feeling safe when you are not in control?

Do you raise your voice to get your way?

Do you act kind on the outside but bitter on the inside?

Do you use food, sex/pornography, relationships, alcohol or drugs to cope with life’s problems?

Do you struggle with body image?

Do you ever know the right thing to do but don’t do it?

Do you love someone struggling with destructive behaviors such as pornography, drugs or alcohol?

Do you live with someone who abuses you physically, sexually or emotionally or feel the continued effects from past traumas & abuse?

Do you ever know that something is wrong but do it anyway?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, welcome to the human race and Celebrate Recovery where you will find a group of fellow strugglers all working to get well. You will discover that you are not alone and when you share your hurt, habit or hang-up with anyone at CR, the most common response you will hear is, “Me too.”

CR is a “Me too” kind of place where no perfect people are allowed and all are welcome to participate in a Christ Centered program that heals and sets people free from all hurts, habits and hang-ups through the power of Jesus Christ in community with other people.

Eight Recovery Principles

Realize I’m not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is unmanageable.

“Blessed are those who know they are spiritually poor.”
Matthew 5:3

Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and the He has the power to help me recover.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Matthew 5:4

Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.

“Blessed are the meek.”
Matthew 5:5

Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God and to someone I trust.

“Blessed are the pure in heart.”
Matthew 5:8

Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects.

“Blessed are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires.”Matthew 5:6

Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others except when to do so would harm them or others.

“Blessed are the merciful.”Matthew 5:9

Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and gain the power to follow His will.

Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires.”
Matthew 5:10

Giving Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I give money to the church?

To put it in simple terms, it is what God tells us to do.

A common error of thought for many Christians is that we are giving to God a portion of what is ours. In truth, the tithe is not ours to give to God but is God’s for us to give back. We consider it a privilege to have it to give back to Him as it represents a tangible acknowledgment that everything we have belongs to Him.

“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” 2 Corinthians 9:7, 10-11

What are my giving dollars used for?

Your gifts are used to fund God’s work through the ministry of Real Life Church. Our mission is to Help People Find, and Follow Jesus.

RLC currently produces eight-weekend services including children, student, and young adult environments. Celebrate Recovery, Care groups, and many Life Group opportunities are provided as well. There are many communities and global outreach projects as well as other ministry opportunities too numerous to mention here. Please check the website for a complete list of ministries offered by RLC. You can also sign up for ourFirst Steplunch where you can learn more about who we are, what we do, and how to get more connected.

What is the difference between a tithe and an offering?

There is a clear biblical difference between tithes and offerings. The Bible mentions both of them separately, even though the Lord required both to be brought to Him. For an individual, a tithe is the tenth of all the income that God provides. For a business owner, total income would be the profit or net earnings from the business.

Offerings are gifts given to God above the tithe. There are people who God has blessed financially who may be able to give 10%, 20% or even more of their income and still live comfortably.

Should I be tithing on my net or gross earnings?

In Proverbs 3:9-10 God’s Word instructs us to give Him the very first and best part of the income He has blessed us with. If we tithe on our “net” we are putting other expenses and deductions above the tithe and not making God first in our giving or in our finances.

What if we believe we can’t afford to tithe right now?

It is when we are having financial struggles we can’t afford not to tithe. During difficult economic times, many people think that if they give they may not be able to pay their rent, purchase gas for their vehicle or even buy groceries for the week. It’s a struggle that we understand but we also understand that God is bigger than our financial struggles. It is a good time to ask ourselves, “Are we trusting in our abilities or in God?”

For many people, we would simply challenge you to reevaluate your priorities. We are not advocating drinking water and eating rice every day, selling your car, canceling your electric and water service, and spending no money except that which will be spent on food, clothing, and shelter. What we would suggest is that you evaluate what you ARE spending your money on and ask yourself if you’re living as though all you have belongs to God.

God is always faithful to take care of us. No matter what we are currently experiencing financially, God promises to meet all of our needs. See Philippians 4:19.

We would encourage you (if you have not already) to take one of our financial stewardship classes and see if that might help equip you to prioritize your personal finances. If you need to sit down and speak with someone in our Financial Freedom ministry about your finances, please contact us. If you are experiencing hardship financially, we encourage you to reach out to our Care Ministry team to see if we have benevolence funds available to help you.

Is it difficult toset up online giving?

No, it is very easy. Simply click on the Giving link on the website or the Real Life Church app and it will take you to a user-friendly website where you can set up your online account. If you have any questions about your online giving account, you can contact us at social@reallifechurch.organd we can answer any questions you may have.

Is giving online secure?

Yes. It is the policy of Real Life Church to protect your personal privacy. We request information from a user on our site if the user performs a financial transaction. Online giving transactions are processed with PushPay. In this case, a user must provide information including but not limited to name, address, and financial information, including but not limited to credit card information or bank account information.

PushPaymay use a third party intermediary to perform the transaction processing. This intermediary is solely a link in the distribution chain and uses the information provided for the sole purpose of processing the transaction. PushPay takes data security very seriously and has achieved Level 1 compliance.

What are some non-cash ways to give to Real Life Church?

You can donate items such as stocks, bonds, property, or other “in-kind” gifts. For more information, please email [email protected].

Can I view my past giving history online?

Yes. Your past history of giving is available to view online and are updated to your account weekly. The only giving we will not have a record of is cash offerings, which were not accompanied by a name to credit the cash offering to.

Is my online giving information kept private?

The online giving registration form requires you to give us contact information (like your name and e-mail address), and demographic information. The information you give to us through our online giving system is for the sole purpose of processing your contribution. We do not sell or give away your private information for any reason.

All contributions to Real Life Church are income tax deductible and are made with the understanding that Real Life Church has complete discretion and control over the use of all donated funds.